I can see 7. There just isn't a scenario I see as reasonable that gets them higher. Winning 8 would almost certainly require them winning two of three at home against LSU, Georgia, and South Carolina. Don't see it. Getting to 9 is winning the Powerball.

Florida, UGA, South Carolina, LSU, and Arky are probable losses, but those teams all have issues of their own. They'll need a few breaks, but it wouldn't shock me to see the Vols go 2-for-5 against that bunch.

I just view Florida as beatable. It was competitive last year and we were awful. We should be better this year and they shoudl take one more step back. Not sold on the Florida coaching staff being able to work together either.

LSU, UGA and SC are all winnable games to me. Nothing about any of them terrify me, especially with the game being at Neyland. Not saying we will win, just thay we can.

However, based on our recent early season OOC games, we cannot afford to overlook Cinnci. I'm afraid too many fans are. I'm convinced the team looked past UCLA in 09 as well. We are just not good enough to do it.

I can see 7. There just isn't a scenario I see as reasonable that gets them higher. Winning 8 would almost certainly require them winning two of three at home against LSU, Georgia, and South Carolina. Don't see it. Getting to 9 is winning the Powerball.

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I think it's more to do with us winning 6 last year, but expecting to be a good deal better this year, thus 8 or 9 seems reasonable. If you actually look at the schedule and break it down, however... not so much. I could probably see 8-9 wins with this team playing the 2010 season.

LSU- All indications point to a loss, but LSU games are always exciting and you've gotta think they'll be driven to win after last year. It's huge that this game is at Neyland.

Alabama, Arkansas- definite losses.

I said it already somewhere, either here or on VN, but I think we go 2-4 against UF, UGA, USCe and LSU. However, I fear we lose one of the games we should win. I see an inexplicable loss to either Cincy, Buffalo or finally losing to Kentucky. So I see 7-5 in the regular season and a bowl win could give us 8 wins total.

I am sticking with 8, simply because this is the first time I have been optimistic about a football season in years. My hunch is probably wrong, but [uck fay] it, I may be off by a game or may be terribly surprised.

That said, you all bring up valid points. I think that with Lattimore healthy, South Carolina is a tough matchup. I also think that Georgia is an almost definite win this year, because they simply won't be any good. LSU, well that just depends on whether bad or terrible Les Miles shows up. You always have a chance against that idiot.

I can see 7. There just isn't a scenario I see as reasonable that gets them higher. Winning 8 would almost certainly require them winning two of three at home against LSU, Georgia, and South Carolina. Don't see it. Getting to 9 is winning the Powerball.

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There are 6 teams we should beat. Of the other 6, I'd say Alabama is the most likely loss by far. I could see Tennessee winning 2 out of the other 5.

The west schedule makes it difficult this year. I would still consider 6-6 a disappointment.

I just view Florida as beatable. It was competitive last year and we were awful. We should be better this year and they shoudl take one more step back. Not sold on the Florida coaching staff being able to work together either.

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I don't. Florida played awful last year, against us and in the season as a whole. I'll say it again--they are better than us at almost every position, and they are in the swamp. A win over the gators will mean UT is a hell of a lot better than I think, that the Florida staff has done a woeful job of preparing their team, and that every break in the game goes our way. I just don't see all three happening.

I think there are 6 teams that are better than us on our schedule. I think we are dangerous enough on offense to beat somebody who is better than us, most likely UGa or SC. I can't see more than 7 wins on the schedule, and I think 5-7 with a loss to Cincy or UK is more likely than 8-4.

I think we're all overestimating the strength of the SEC. I just don't see the horses out there and we're no longer light years from competitive as we were at the end of Fulmer's death grip. For the first time, we have a chance to win games in which the chalk is heavily stacked against us. That said, our offensive approach thus far says that we're likely to be seriously inconsistent. If the D doesn't improve drastically, that will beat us in a couple we should win.

If the line has stepped up and we can run it some, then we have a chance against anyone.

I think for the first time in years, we're actually underestimating the team.